Politicians of every stripe rely on talking points, and voters generally understand that campaign appearances often feature a well-rehearsed stump speech. But interviews are supposed to be different. When reporters ask questions, candidates are expected to at least give the impression that they are engaging in a genuine conversation rather than reciting lines from a script.
That’s why a pair of recent interviews with Texas state Rep. James Talarico raised eyebrows. As YouTuber Matt Christiansen was preparing for his show on Sunday, he noticed something unusual: Talarico delivered the exact same response — verbatim — in two separate interviews last week, creating the distinct impression that he had memorized the answer in advance.
Christiansen posted clips of Talarico reciting the remarks to interviewers at CBS and MSNBC on X Sunday, writing, “Safe to say Talarico rehearsed this line very thoroughly.” Indeed.
In an apparent effort to convey that his campaign is attracting support beyond the Democratic base, Talarico offered the following account in both interviews:
I’ve gone to every corner of this state over the course of this campaign, from Beaumont to El Paso, from Amarillo to Brownsville, and everywhere in between. And we have had tens of thousands of Texans showing up to rally with us and I can’t tell you the number of people who come up to me at the end of these events and whisper, ‘I’m not a Democrat.’
One X user noted that former Vice President Kamala Harris developed a reputation for doing the same thing, frequently delivering identical or near-identical responses across multiple interviews and appearances. In fact, critics compiled numerous supercuts stitching together clips of Harris repeating the same lines verbatim, often to the point where the videos could be layered over one another almost perfectly. Voters notice when candidates’ answers sound less like spontaneous responses and more like memorized scripts.
President Donald Trump has called Talarico “a weird guy.” He is. And he has “weird ideas.” He believes the U.S. southern border should function like a “front porch,” that there should be a “giant welcome mat out front and a lock on the door.” He claims that “God is nonbinary” and in a 2022 speech, he advocated for reducing meat consumption for environmental reasons.
But he also comes across as inauthentic, particularly as he pivots toward the general election and attempts to distance himself from some of his earlier remarks. In fact, it’s hard not to notice how frequently people reach for the word “inauthentic” when discussing Talarico.
Perhaps nothing illustrates that better than the now-famous image of Talarico biting into a turkey drumstick while trying to look as though he’s savoring it — a moment that, once seen, is hard to unsee.
One X user summed it up perfectly: “This guy is clearly manufactured on a few different levels. Who he really is will be a mystery, but anyone willing to do this can be slotted into the ‘soulless husk’ category.”
Talarico does appear as a “soulless husk.”
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Despite all of the personal baggage Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton brings to the race, he has a viable path to victory. If he makes Talarico’s perceived inauthenticity the central issue of the race, he can win. Voters are often willing to overlook a candidate’s flaws, but they are far less forgiving when they conclude that a politician is playing a role rather than revealing who he really is. My guess is that Democrats see this weakness too, which is why so much effort has gone into carefully curating Talarico’s image.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn.
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